Pitas and hummus

Matthew: I really enjoy eating pitas and hummus, but I seem to have a hard time finding good pitas in the store. First of all, it is difficult to find them at all since different stores put them in different locations. It baffles me that they are not just put near the rest of the bread. The only stores that I have found with really good pitas are Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Since I don’t go shopping there too often, I thought I would see if I could make my own. I used this recipe from the Joy of Cooking. After 1 hour, my dough had risen plenty, so I went on with the recipe at that point. The baking part was a little tricky, but I managed to bake two at a time on my overturned baking sheet. If you have a pizza stone, I’m sure it would be easier. To spray some water in the oven, I used a pastry brush dipped in water and flicked it in. Since I was going in and out of the oven a lot, I tried to be quick by just grabbing the pitas with my oven mitt and throwing them up onto the cooling racks on the counter.

For the hummus, I used Ina Garten’s recipe. I made it it my blender, forcing me to add a little extra liquid from the chickpeas in order to get it to blend. I omitted the hot sauce and only added the juice from half a lemon since that is all I had. It tastes great, so I don’t think any more is necessary. The first freshly baked pita with some hummus made a really delicious nighttime snack. Since then, I’ve been making pita sandwiches for lunch with hummus, raw green beans, and sharp cheddar cheese. I think my coworkers are jealous!